You know that section at the end of the high school yearbook where parents take out ads to tell their kids how awesome they are? Well, one set of "proud" upstate parents decided their ad should feature their kid posing with a dead giraffe.
According to the Times-Union, the photograph is in the Guilderland High School yearbook, which costs $65: "The caption of the photo, in short, reads: 'A hunt based only on the trophies taken falls far short of what the ultimate goal should be,' along with a heartfelt salutation from the student's family." It seems that the giraffe was killed in a hunt.
The school admitted it should have been more careful; School Superintendent Marie Wiles told the Times-Union, "I do understand that there are some folks that are offended. It's our regret that people are offended by this. In the future, we will take a little bit closer view of how we review that section of the yearbook." Schools will let a killed giraffe and gems like these slip through but will complain about a student's photo with his beloved cat? (RIP, Draven.)
A Humane Society spokesman suggested the school add conservation into the curriculum: "Traveling halfway around the world to shoot some of the world's most magnificent, and exotic animals is shameful. Trophy hunting increases threats to survival of these species."
Giraffes are in danger of extinction; Giraffe Conservation Research's Dr. Jillian Fennessy told ABC News late last year that the giraffe population has fallen 40% since 1999. "It’s a silent extinction... The numbers have gone down from 140,000 to fewer than 80,000 today"—due to poaching and humans causing habitat loss.
